EGGSHELL MOSAIC JEWELRY AND TWO BONUS PROJECTS!

Hey my lovelies!  I have been working on some nice mosaic style jewelry to show you.  I got this idea from browsing on the Cool2Craft website.  I hope you find my tutorial interesting and try them yourself!  Read on to see my adventures in eggshell mosaic jewelry!

Let's make these things!  First things first, gather the ingredients!  You will need:
1.  Eggshells that you have soaked in water with a little bleach overnight.  Remove any membrane on the underside that remains and dry thoroughly!
2.  Craft Glue, I used Aleene's
3.  Blank Resin Shapes, I got mine from Cool2Cast
4.  Alcohol Ink, I used Ranger's
5.  Clear Glaze, I used 3D Dimensional

Here are my eggshells, cleaned and dry!

Apply a coat of glue on your blanks, probably one at a time or it will dry on you!

Glue the eggshells, small bits at a time to your blanks.  Make sure to leave little spaces between the pieces so it looks like a mosaic!  Allow them to dry thoroughly!

 

Gather up your inks!

 Apply the Inks liberally and in any pattern you want.  Make sure to color the sides and back too!  It will take a bit of ink since the resin soaks it up pretty easily!  Allow the Ink to dry.  Lots of drying in this project, eh?

There isn't a picture of this step cause I couldn't click and sand at the same time, but...after your ink is thoroughly dry, take a sanding block, or some fine grit sand paper and sand the tops of your pieces to remove a little color.  Its up to you how much to remove.  You can take the shells all the way back to white in some spots, and leave the ink really dark in others!  Then...

Gather up your Glaze!  I used 3D Crystal Lacquer cause it rocks!

TIP!  Keep a straight pin in your glaze so it won't clog on you!

Apply the glaze to the tops of your pieces.  It's good to go around the edge first, then fill it in to prevent dripping.  (Mine dripped anyway, lol!) 

Place on something like a small box or a drink carrier to dry.  If you use a ring blank like I did, cut a slit for the ring part and your piece can sit level so the glaze doesn't all drip off.  Also, if you use something like the drink carrier that has holes in it, place some paper towels underneath or you might just glaze your counter top!  I did!

Dry really well, like overnight!

If some glaze is all wonky on the sides in a few places you can sand it off with a sanding block, or just kinda pick it off if ya wanna, but be careful if you do that cause its easy to pull a little more off than you want, lol!

 I like this one the best.  The picture is not doing it justice!

The ring...

And here they are all finished and ready for me to make them into some really pretty, and slightly unusual jewelry!  Too bad the findings I order over 5 weeks ago have not made it here yet!  Once they do, I will be sure to post some pictures!

I have been working on a few others as well!  These are some little mini canvasses that I decoupaged with Tissue Paper and Mod-Podge, then applied some scrapbook embellishments and a tiny bit of glitter.  I also put some of my 3D Crystal Lacquer on a few spots to make them shine!

Speaking of Decoupage..

I took an old ugly mail sorter and covered it with scrapbook paper!  I added some lettering and it looks great!

Too bad Hubs ignores it and still plops the mail down on the coffee table!  Ha!

One last little goodie!  I created this tag for my blog!  Feel Free to grab it up in the left-hand column!

Happy Crafting, 

Love and Hugs,

Jillie!